


O Holy Night

by Slut_4_Jagermeister



Category: Hunter X Hunter
Genre: Kurta Christmas y’all, Pairo Mamapika and Fathapika cameo, in which I make a bunch of shit up, this made me sad lmfao but it ends happy I promise
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-04
Updated: 2020-12-04
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:28:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,438
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27883025
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Slut_4_Jagermeister/pseuds/Slut_4_Jagermeister
Summary: Kurapika’s friends don’t think he should be alone for the holidays
Comments: 2
Kudos: 18





	O Holy Night

By now Kurapika was used to being alone. He’d come to find solace in it, in fact. When you’re alone you can’t hurt anybody. Or more importantly, no one can hurt you. He contemplated the latter thought as his kettle heated up and eventually screeched at its completion. 

Kurapika stood and walked barefoot to the modest kitchen in his York New apartment, removing the kettle from the heat. It’s not customary, but he poured in some whisky for good measure before adding the hot drink. It smelled like home. Kurapika breathed it in and closed his eyes, trying to remember the last time he celebrated this holiday. When he was 14, he assumed, right before- 

_“Kurapika!!” His mother yells from their front door. “Get in here!! It’s ready!!” Next to him Pairo giggles._

_“You better go before you get it!” Kurapika smiles and ruffles Pairo’s hair._

_“Come with me!!! She always makes too much!!” So they go, running carelessly towards his home, laughing._

_“Now who invited that rascal?” His mother asks with an accusatory tone and a hand on her hip, as if they can’t see two steaming mugs and plates with cookies on the table just behind her._

_“Aw, c’mon’ he’ll behave, won’t you, Pairo?” He plays along. “I swear it on the Scarlet Eyes!!” Pairo is already seated at the table, grabbing another sweet. He looks over at the sound of his name and grins with a full mouth. His mother laughs and grabs Kurapika up in a tight hug. He hugs back, tighter._

_“Thank you for making this.” He says. She steps back and pinches his cheek._

_“I know it’s your favorite. What I don’t know is why your father doesn’t like it.” As if on cue said father comes around the corner._

_“Because it tastes like dirt!”_

_“Well, the herb_ does _come from the dirt, but_ I _think you just don’t have a refined enough palette.” She teases._

_Kurapika sits down and smiles at Pairo before picking up the mug, blowing softly to make sure it won’t burn his tongue and takes a sip. His dad isn’t entirely wrong. The drink, called Feveroot, is extremely earthy and oaky, and is only non poisonous at this time of year during their holiday. At the center of the table sits the proof of it’s ripeness- a blood red orchid, not dissimilar to the way his eyes change when he’s upset. Once, his mother explained that in the outside world people would cut down trees to adorn their living spaces for the holiday that happened around the same time of theirs, and the orchids were their version of it._

The drink is too hot and Kurapika burns his tongue. He nearly drops the mug of feveroot and curses. It’s at that moment a knock comes at his door, which he ignores to walk back into his living room. 138 blood red orchids look back at him in silence. They cover nearly every inch of the space. The floor, the hearth, the tables are all littered with the plants. It had taken a lot of time, and a lot of money, but when Kurapika sits down and can finally take a proper drink he knows it was worth it. He can assign a name to every plant, even after all this time, even if he can’t remember the face. 

Another knock. 

“I know you’re in there, Kurapika!!!!” A familiar voice yells. He sighes. Leorio. The door is locked so he isn’t worried; the man is bound to get pissed and leave in a huff to spam his voicemail eventually. Then he senses Nen. Someone impersonating Leorio’s voice, perhaps? Kurapika knew he hadn’t mastered the craft. His chains appear like second nature and he carefully sits his cup down in the only space left on his table. From a portal a hand appears, and to his astonishment unlocks his damn door, then opens it. 

“I don’t know who the hell you think you are, but I’m warning you-“ He begins, but the air is knocked out of him as the intruder grabs him. 

“KURAPIKA!!! I’VE MISSED YOUUU” It yells. The intruder is Gon Freecss. Stunned for a moment he tries to process the fact Gon broke into his home and notices the (actual) Leorio, looking rather angry. Behind him Killua is in the doorway with that sly smirk of his. 

“Gon?” Kurapika blurts out. Gon looks up from where he’s got Kurapika in a vice grip of a hug and smiles. 

“Surprise!! We didn’t think you should be alone on… well, I know it’s not called Christmas.” He pauses to think for a moment and looks back. “Killua!! What’s it called again?” 

“Lupercalis.” The boy supplies, walking in and looking around. “And those flowers are from a Feveroot plant.” Gon seems to finally notice them. 

“Oh right!! It’s like a Christmas tree for them!!” Kurapika is at a loss. 

“How-“ He starts to ask, but Leorio is walking over at an alarming speed. Gon lets him go and gets out of the way, reading the room.

“If you’d answer your goddamn phone every once in a while, I wouldn’t have to break into your apartment!!” He screams directly in Kurapika’s face. His hackles raise. 

“Yeah, well maybe I didn’t want you all here!!” He yells back. 

“Oh.” Gon says softly, and Kurapika deflates. 

“I’m sorry, Gon, I didn’t mean that.” Kurapika doesn’t know where he got it, but the boy has a large book in his hands. He still looks dejected when he meets Kurapika’s eyes. 

“We just wanted to give you this…” The book is big and heavy when it gets into his hands. _The Kurta Clan; A Recording_ the title reads. Kurapika’s first instinct is to get angry as he opens it. How dare someone study his people as if they were animals? _By Lenora Kurta._ Suddenly the book is heavier in his hands, and his heart stops. 

“Gon.” He says seriously, carefully. “Where did you get this?” Leorio is still glaring at him in the background. Gon shuffles his feet. 

“When I finally met Ging I told him about all of my adventures. After, back on Whale Island he sent me that book with a note that you might like it. He said it was from his private collection but it would do better in your hands. So I phoned Killua and Leorio, and we read the whole thing, and saw the part about your clan’s Christmas and thought- oof!” He gasped as Kurapika hugged him tight, tears threatening to prick at his eyes. 

“This is the best gift you could have given me. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.” He gushed, sniffing and fighting back more tears. He looked to Leorio. “I’m sorry about not answering, it’s just-“ the look on the man’s face had softened and he embraced them both in a hug. 

“I know.” Killua was studying the cover of the book, contemplating. 

“The author was your mother, wasn’t it?” He asked, ever the observant assassin. Kurapika nodded and let go of Gon. He wiped his nose. 

“Yes, I never knew she wrote.” He picked the book back up and sat down on his couch, opening it with shaky hands and leafing through the pages. 

It was all there. All of their traditions, all the ones he knew, some he didn’t, and some he hadn’t even realized he’d forgotten, all in her handwriting. The recipe to her special cookies. The recipe for the Feveroot drink. All of their holidays, family trees, including his own. A list of all the clan elders, dated back to the time they had founded. The secret behind the eye drops to keep their eyes from turning Scarlet. A tear fell to the page, and Kurapika let himself sob. 

“Hey, is this the drink?” Gon asked, sniffing at Kurapika’s forgotten mug. He smiled. 

“Yes, it is. Want to try?” 

“Yeah!!” Kurapika gently set the book down and walked back to his kitchen, pulling out three more cups. He poured the steaming liquid into them and offered each to his friends. Leorio immediately spit his out. 

“Disgusting!” Normally he would have been offended, but he couldn’t find it in him to be angry right now, for once. He laughed. 

“Interesting.” Killua commented, sipping at it again, completely neutral. 

“What do you mean, Leorio? This is delicious!” Gon exclaimed. “Do you have any more Kurapika?” 

He did, so he filled Gon’s mug up again, and joined everyone on the couch, answering their various questions about his Clan, and for the first time in a long time he felt somewhat at peace. 


End file.
